A busy weekend for football started with the Seniors in a rescheduled match V Templeogue Synge Street last Thursday. New recruit Paul Durcan got off to a winning start with his new club as they overcame Synger in the third round of the SVP Cup on a scoreline of 2-18 to 1-9. With a half time lead of 4 points Boden pulled away towards the end of the second half to finish strongly.

Saturday saw the Inters continue their fine run of form this time in the Joy Cup where they accounted for St.Marks by 1-14 to 2-06. They remain unbeaten this season.

On Sunday our Minor  & Junior B teams were in action, the Minors kicked off proceedings with wins for the A’s & B’s (reports below) while the C’s match was called off and the D’s were beaten by St.Peregrines. In the sunshine of the afternoon the Junior B’s were up against rivals Kilmacud Crokes and came through convincingly by 5-08 to 0-09 (report below).

MFL DIV.1 Ballyboden St Endas 3-17 Cuala 3-08

Ballyboden got off to the poorest of starts last Sunday in Shankill against a plucky Cuala side that opened up with a goal and three points, before the visitors woke themselves out of their slumbers. Granted when they did, they carved lanes through the Cuala defence to go in 5 points to the good at the break. Bodens defence struggled all morning against a lively Cuala attack and were it not for some sloppy finishing by the home side this result would have been in some doubt. Boden were short a few of their panel due to exams this week and a plethora of injuries. The worst of these belonging to Barra McGarry and James Holland, their inter county stars. But there is no such thing as a weak Ballyboden team and yesterday mornings game proved this beyond doubt. While Boden did get off to the slowest start of the season, they did get the machine rumbling after 12 minutes when Kirwin planted a spot kick after he had been fouled in the box. Once they got their stride going, they fairly laid in to Cuala, with 8 unanswered points on the trot. With Hestor and O Donoghue controlling the mid field a plentiful supply of ball went in to the forwards. Relentless pressure told as Boden swung over a string of very well constructed scores. McGee and the diminutive Dunne cause havoc down the right, while Leddy and Kirwin contributed greatly to the outcome on the left. At full forward the massive Kane sprung from his normal goalkeeping duties posed a significant problem for the Cuala defence. With 5 on the clock before the break, Hestor swung over a peach of a ball, Kane went highest, landed and fired past the helpless keeper. It had all the hall marks of route one Kerry football, simple but beautiful.

The second half was a bit of a procession, with Dunne providing the highlight of the hour with a point that thankfully has been captured on video (SEE CLIP HERE). A thing of rare beauty, he dance around two defenders and shaped a shot off the outside of his left boot, from the right half forward position that zipped between the uprights. John Murphy entered the fray and proved that he is right at home in this company. Tigerish on the ball and has a good eye for a score. Weldons point at the end was also worth paying the admission fee, skipping around a couple of despairing tackles before kicking it over with the minimum of room and even less fuss. O’Connell in goals was solid and his kick outs were consistant and long.Tobin, Carolan and O Dea had their hands full all day, but never gave up and won some important balls. In the half back line, Cronin, Keller and Stafford were the launching pad for a lot of Bodens best attacks. At mid field O Donoghue and the tireless Hestor proved their worth. Hestors point while rare was finished with precision. In the half forward line McGee, Flaherty and Leddy put in a big shift and worked tirelessly contributing 7 points between. But it was the full forward line that took the plaudits with Kirwin, Kane and Dunne who ran the Cualas defence ragged as they were getting quality ball all morning.

Next up is Clontarf next Sunday morning at 11.00am at home.  Hope to see you all there

MFL DIV.3A Ballyboden B 3.13  Erins Isle 2.9

Not many people would have giving this Boden Team a chance watching both teams warm up. The Isles team looked a powerful outfit with a considerable panel while the Boden team had just the bare 15. However the match would prove that what Boden lacked in statute they more than made up for in effort and football ability. The details of the match are only an aside to the commitment all 15 Boden players showed for the 60 minutes. There was stand out performances from Conor Barton (scoring 2.3 from play from the middle of the park) , Cian Lynch (a master under the breaking ball), Tommy Burke and David Leech (both of whose none stop running was a feature of the game), Ciaran Ryan (just a class act). The Boden performance was much more than work rate and quality tackling. When possession of the football was achieved, it was worked out of defence with quick passing and support movement and then played quickly and accurately into the full forward line. This heads up simply football  is an example of how a group of players can be more than the sum of its parts and is how the game is played best when no player is more important that the team but is willing to play for the team for 60 minutes.

Boden Team: Stephen McGrath, James McDonnell, Barry O Donnell,  Ciaran Ryan, Charlie McPartland, Keith Sweeney, Conor Barton, Tommy Burke, David Leech, Conor Kennedy, Cian Lynch,Tommy Deane, Cillian Byrne, Laurence Murphy, Eoghan Monahan

SHERIDAN CUP Ballyboden Junior B’s 5-08 Kilmacud Crokes 0-09

Playing against the wind in the first half Bodens Jbs got of to a good start with a great angled point from Donal McCarthy. Boden were immediately on the back foot with Kilmacud responding with two well taken points of their own. Dave McCabe got Boden back on level pegging before Kilmacud scored another four unanswered points. Bodens defence worked well to keep out Kilmacuds attacks to keep us only four points down at half time. Boden got of to a flyer from the throw in with Niall O Connor and Michael Dunne fielding well in midfield to set up a well worked attack. After some neat passing Niall Bradley dinked the keeper with a looping shot into the top corner. This spurred on the JBs and with the ever youthful Colum Reade smashing the back of the net, the Boden attack was on. Mikey Ryan was a menace for the Kilmacud defence with a well taken goal of his own. Points fron Dean O’Donnell, Bradley, Reade and Alex Murphy took the game away from Kilmacud. The “Fox in the Box” was at it again with a well fisted goal, taking his tally for the game to 2-1. A great partnership is now forming with Colum Reade {2-2} and Mikey Ryan {2-1} up front. Johnny Hearn scored an excellent point from an impossible angle to finish the game off. With excellent performances from Liam McNamara, Anthony Manning, James McTiernan, Mick McDonald and Donal O’Brien Boden ran out 5-8 to 0-9. Paul Naughton was replaced by Alan Keane in goal through injury and with both keepers keeping a clean sheet the season is looking up for this JB team.

Congratulations.

Congrats to Mark Fitzgerald and Aisling Farrelly who were married last Saturday in Cork.

Dublin U21 & Minor Championships

Commiserations Bodens Collie Basquel and Shane Clayton as the Dubs U21 football team lost to Tipperary in the All Ireland semi final on Saturday in O’Connor Park, Tullamore by 0-14 to 0-12.

In the Leinster MFC, congrats to Bodens Barra McGarry and James Holland as Dublin beat Offaly by 2-11 to 1-09. Both players were due to start but unfortunately both came a cropper, James in the warm up and Barra a few minutes after throw in!